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Create a Business Verified Customer
Overview Step 1: Create a business Verified Customer Step 2: Handle verification statuses Step 3: Add beneficial owners Step 4: Certify beneficial ownership Frequently asked questions
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Step 1: Creating a Business Verified Customer #

The basics #

Creating a business verified Customer will require you to provide information about the business entity as well as a Controller, if required.

How do I know what `businessType` to sign up as? #

My Customer's business structure	Dwolla businessType values	Controller required?
Sole proprietorships	`soleProprietorship`	No
Unincorporated association	`soleProprietorship`	No
Trust	`soleProprietorship`	No
Corporation	`corporation`	Yes
Publicly traded corporations	`corporation`	Yes
Non-profits	`corporation` or `llc`	Yes
LLCs	`llc`	Yes
Partnerships, LP's, LLP's	`partnership`	Yes

There are two types of business verified Customers that you can create, based on if they are required to add information on the Controller or not.

Create a business verified Customer with no Controller #

Follow these steps to create a business verified Customer where "businessType": "soleProprietorship"

Events

As a developer, you can expect these events to be triggered when a business verified Customer is successfully created and systematically verified:

customer_created
customer_verified

What parties are identity verified by Dwolla?

Business Type	Business Entity	Controller	Business Owner
Sole Proprietorship	Identity verified	N/A	Identity verified

In order to create a business verified Customer with businessType of soleProprietorship, Dwolla only requires information to verify the identity of the business and the Account Admin.

Parameter	Required	Type	Description
firstName	yes	string	The legal first name of the Business Owner. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
lastName	yes	string	The legal last name of the Business Owner. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
email	yes	string	Email address of the Business Owner. Must be a valid email format (e.g., `example@domain.com`).
ipAddress	no	string	IP address of the registering user is recommended.
type	yes	string	Must be `business`.
dateOfBirth	yes	string	The date of birth of the Business Owner. Format: `YYYY-MM-DD` Age Range: Must be between 18 to 125 years.
ssn	yes	string	Last four or full 9 digits of the Business Owner's Social Security Number. Must contain only numbers (e.g., `1234` or `123456789`).
address1	yes	string	Street number and street name of the business’ physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters, contain no special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\], and cannot be a PO Box.
address2	no	string	Apartment, floor, suite, bldg. # of business’ physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
city	yes	string	City of the business’ physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot contain numbers or special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
state	yes	string	US Persons - Must be a valid two-letter US state/territory abbreviation (e.g., `CA`). Reference: US Postal Service guide.
postalCode	yes	string	Business’ US ZIP Code. Must be either 5 digits (e.g., `50314`) or ZIP+4 (e.g., `50314-1234`).
businessName	yes	string	Registered business name. Must be ≤ 255 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
doingBusinessAs	no	string	Preferred business name – also known as a fictitious name or assumed name. Must be ≤ 255 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
businessType	yes	string	Business structure. Must be `soleProprietorship`.
businessClassification	yes	string	The industry classification ID corresponding to the Customer’s business. Reference: Business Classifications.
ein	no	string	Employer Identification Number (EIN). Optional for `soleProprietorship` business Customers. Must be 9 numeric characters (e.g., `123456789`).
website	no	string	Business’ website. Must be a valid URL (e.g., `https://www.domain.com`).
phone	no	string	Business’s 10-digit phone number. Must contain only numbers (e.g., `3334447777`). No hyphens, spaces, or separators.

Sole Propreietorship - Request and response #

Raw

POST https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers
Content-Type: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Accept: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Authorization: Bearer 0Sn0W6kzNic+oWhDbQcVSKLRUpGjIdl/YyrHqrDDoRnQwE7Q

{
    "firstName": "Business",
    "lastName": "Owner",
    "email": "solePropBusiness@email.com",
    "ipAddress": "143.156.7.8",
    "type": "business",
    "dateOfBirth": "1980-01-31",
    "ssn": "6789",
    "address1": "99-99 33rd St",
    "city": "Some City",
    "state": "NY",
    "postalCode": "11101",
    "businessClassification": "9ed3f670-7d6f-11e3-b1ce-5404a6144203",
    "businessType": "soleProprietorship",
    "businessName":"Jane Corp",
    "ein":"00-0000000"
}

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Location: https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/62c3aa1b-3a1b-46d0-ae90-17304d60c3d5

Create a business verified Customer with controller #

Events

As a developer, you can expect these events to be triggered when a business verified Customer is successfully created and systematically verified:

customer_created
customer_verified

What parties are identity verified by Dwolla?

Business Type	Business Entity	Controller	Account Admin
Corporation	Identity verified	Identity verified	Not identity verified
Partnership	Identity verified	Identity verified	Not identity verified
LLC	Identity verified	Identity verified	Not identity verified

For all other businessType's other than soleProprietorship, your Customer will need to provide more information for verification. In order to create a business verified Customer with a controller, Dwolla requires information on an account admin, the business, and the controller. Your business verified Customer account admin will act as the agent signing up on behalf of the business. When going through the Customer creation flow, your business verified Customer account admin will only need information on one controller to successfully complete the signup flow.

Corporation, partnership, llc - Request parameters #

Parameter	Required	Type	Description
firstName	yes	string	The legal first name of the Account Admin or individual signing up the business verified Customer. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
lastName	yes	string	The legal last name of the Account Admin or individual signing up the business verified Customer. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
email	yes	string	Email address of the Account Admin creating and managing the Customer account. Must be a valid email format (e.g., `example@domain.com`).
ipAddress	no	string	IP address of the registering user. Recommended but not required.
type	yes	string	Must be `business`.
address1	yes	string	Street number and street name of the business’ physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters, contain no special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\], and cannot be a PO Box.
address2	no	string	Apartment, floor, suite, bldg. # of business’ physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
city	yes	string	City of the business’ physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot contain numbers or special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
state	yes	string	US Persons - Must be a valid two-letter US state/territory abbreviation (e.g., `CA`). Reference: US Postal Service guide.
postalCode	yes	string	Business’ US ZIP Code. Must be either 5 digits (e.g., `50314`) or ZIP+4 (e.g., `50314-1234`).
businessName	yes	string	Registered business name. Must be ≤ 255 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
doingBusinessAs	no	string	Preferred business name – also known as a fictitious name or assumed name. Must be ≤ 255 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
businessType	yes	string	Business structure. Accepted values: `corporation`, `llc`, `partnership`.
businessClassification	yes	string	The industry classification ID corresponding to the Customer’s business. Reference: Business Classifications.
ein	yes	string	Employer Identification Number (EIN). Must be 9 numeric characters (e.g., `123456789`). Note: If `businessType` is `soleProprietorship`, then `ein` and `controller` can be omitted.
website	no	string	Business’ website. Must be a valid URL (e.g., `https://www.domain.com`).
phone	no	string	Business’s 10-digit phone number. Must contain only numbers (e.g., `3334447777`). No hyphens, spaces, or separators.
controller	conditional	object	A Controller JSON object. Required unless `businessType` is `soleProprietorship`.

Controller JSON object #

Parameter	Required	Type	Description
firstName	yes	string	The legal first name of the Controller. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
lastName	yes	string	The legal last name of the Controller. Must be ≤ 50 characters and cannot include special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
title	yes	string	Job title of the Controller. Examples: `Chief Financial Officer`, `Managing Director`. Must be ≤ 100 characters and cannot contain numbers or special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
dateOfBirth	yes	string	Controller’s date of birth in `YYYY-MM-DD` format. Must be between 18 to 125 years old.
ssn	conditional	string	Last four digits or full 9-digit Social Security Number (SSN). Required for US residents. If omitted, a passport object is required.
address	yes	object	A Controller Address JSON Object containing the Controller’s full physical address. Reference: Controller Address JSON Object.
passport	conditional	object	A Controller Passport JSON Object. Required for non-US individuals. Includes Passport Identification Number and Country. Reference: Controller Passport JSON Object.

Controller address JSON object #

Parameter	Required	Type	Description
address1	yes	string	Street number and name of Controller’s physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters. Cannot contain special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\]. PO Boxes are not allowed.
address2	no	string	Apartment, floor, suite, or building number of Controller’s physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters. Cannot contain special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\]. PO Boxes are not allowed.
address3	no	string	Third line of the address, if applicable. Must be ≤ 50 characters. Cannot contain special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\]. PO Boxes are not allowed.
city	yes	string	City name of Controller’s physical address. Must be ≤ 50 characters. Cannot contain numbers or special characters [<>="`!?%~${}\].
stateProvinceRegion	yes	string	US Persons - Two-letter US state abbreviation. See the US Postal Service guide. Non-US Persons - Two-letter ISO abbreviation for state, province, or region. See the ISO guide. If a country does not have a two-letter abbreviation for a state/province, use the country’s two-letter ISO code instead. Must be uppercase (e.g., `CA`).
postalCode	conditional	string	US Persons - Must provide a 5-digit ZIP code (e.g., `12345`) or ZIP+4 code (e.g., `12345-6789`). Non-US Persons - Optional. Can include alphanumeric postal codes where applicable.
country	yes	string	Two-letter ISO country code (e.g., `US` for United States, `CA` for Canada). Reference the ISO country codes list.

Controller passport JSON object #

Parameter	Required	Type	Description
number	conditional	string	Required if the controller is a non-US person and does not have a Social Security Number (SSN). Must be ≤ 255 characters.
country	conditional	string	Country where the passport was issued. Must be a two-letter ISO country code (e.g., `GB` for United Kingdom, `IN` for India).

Once you submit this request, Dwolla will perform some initial validation to check for formatting issues such as an invalid date of birth, invalid email format, etc. If successful, the response will be a HTTP 201/Created with the URL of the new Customer resource contained in the Location header.

Business with Controller - Request and response

Raw

POST https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers
Content-Type: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Accept: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Authorization: Bearer 0Sn0W6kzNic+oWhDbQcVSKLRUpGjIdl/YyrHqrDDoRnQwE7Q

{
    "firstName": "Account",
    "lastName": "Admin",
    "email": "accountAdmin@email.com",
    "ipAddress": "143.156.7.8",
    "type": "business",
    "address1": "99-99 33rd St",
    "city": "Some City",
    "state": "NY",
    "postalCode": "11101",
    "controller": {
        "firstName": "John",
        "lastName": "Controller",
        "title": "CEO",
        "ssn": "6789",
        "dateOfBirth": "1980-01-31",
        "address": {
            "address1": "1749 18th st",
            "address2": "apt 12",
            "city": "Des Moines",
            "stateProvinceRegion": "IA",
            "postalCode": "50266",
            "country": "US"
        }
    },
    "businessClassification": "9ed3f670-7d6f-11e3-b1ce-5404a6144203",
    "businessType": "llc",
    "businessName":"Jane Corp",
    "ein":"00-0000000"
}

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Location: https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/62c3aa1b-3a1b-46d0-ae90-17304d60c3d5

Check the status of the business Customer #

You have created a business verified Customer; however, the successful creation of a business verified Customer doesn’t necessarily mean the Customer account is verified. Businesses may need to provide additional information to help verify their identity. It is important to check the status of the business Customer to determine if additional documentation is needed.

Request and response

Raw

GET https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/62c3aa1b-3a1b-46d0-ae90-17304d60c3d5
Accept: application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json
Authorization: Bearer pBA9fVDBEyYZCEsLf/wKehyh1RTpzjUj5KzIRfDi0wKTii7DqY

...

{
    "_links": {
        "verify-beneficial-owners": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14/beneficial-owners",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "beneficial-owner"
        },
        "beneficial-owners": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14/beneficial-owners",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "beneficial-owner"
        },
        "deactivate": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "customer"
        },
        "self": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "customer"
        },
        "receive": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/transfers",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "transfer"
        },
        "edit-form": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json; profile=\"https://github.com/dwolla/hal-forms\"",
            "resource-type": "customer"
        },
        "edit": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "customer"
        },
        "certify-beneficial-ownership": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14/beneficial-ownership",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "beneficial-ownership"
        },
        "funding-sources": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14/funding-sources",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "funding-source"
        },
        "transfers": {
            "href": "https://api-sandbox.dwolla.com/customers/d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14/transfers",
            "type": "application/vnd.dwolla.v1.hal+json",
            "resource-type": "transfer"
        }
    },
    "id": "d56c07fa-3832-427d-bb88-a9eb2d375c14",
    "firstName": "Account",
    "lastName": "Admin",
    "email": "accountAdmin@email.com",
    "type": "business",
    "status": "verified",
    "created": "2018-04-26T19:11:41.290Z",
    "address1": "99-99 33rd St",
    "city": "Some City",
    "state": "NY",
    "postalCode": "11101",
    "businessName": "Jane Corp",
    "controller": {
        "firstName": "John",
        "lastName": "Controller",
        "title": "CEO",
        "address": {
            "address1": "1749 18th st",
            "address2": "apt 12",
            "city": "Des Moines",
            "stateProvinceRegion": "IA",
            "country": "US",
            "postalCode": "50266"
        }
    },
    "businessType": "llc",
    "businessClassification": "9ed3f670-7d6f-11e3-b1ce-5404a6144203"
}

You will want to ensure that both your Controller and your Business have been verified, as the Customer will be unable to send or receive funds until then. If the Customer is in retry or document status, head to the next step to learn how to handle these statuses.

Overview

Step 2: Handle verification statuses

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Financial institutions play an important role in our network.

All funds transfers made using the Dwolla Platform are performed by a financial institution partner, and any funds held in a Dwolla Balance are held by a financial institution partner. Learn more about our financial institution partners.

Step 1: Creating a Business Verified Customer #

The basics #

How do I know what businessType to sign up as? #

Create a business verified Customer with no Controller #

Events

What parties are identity verified by Dwolla?

Sole Propreietorship - Request and response #

Create a business verified Customer with controller #

Events

What parties are identity verified by Dwolla?

Corporation, partnership, llc - Request parameters #

Controller JSON object #

Controller address JSON object #

Controller passport JSON object #

Business with Controller - Request and response

Check the status of the business Customer #

Request and response

Dwolla

Product

Developers

How do I know what `businessType` to sign up as? #